Read about Hana’s experience:
APIL has been researching into how private law firms can be encouraged to perform genuine pro-bono work and for their efforts to be rewarded through an annual pro-bono award. I carried out preliminary research into the nature, criteria, decision making bodies involved in awarding Pro-bono awards in the US, UK and Hong Kong. The aim is to design an award which will be attractive and applicable to Korean attitudes and which will have the long term effect of encouraging Korean attorneys to perform more pro bono work, ingrain a “pro-bono culture” in law firms and the legal community.
APIL monitors the activities of Korean multinational companies which have the potential of being the perpetrators of human rights violations. I researched and presented a paper on the legislative history of the Act, the implications of the Act, the practical ways in which businesses must meet the requirements of the Act, how businesses have complied, exemplarily models of compliance, the Korean companies affected, steps Korean companies have taken in order to comply, ways in which NGOs could monitor Korean companies with the aim of encouraging efforts to increase levels of corporate social responsibility.
I also had the opportunity to assist attorneys with their current asylum applications/ appeals through researching into the current country conditions, background research into various organizations associated to the client in order to assess the risk of persecution, and conditions of immigration detention centers.
Korea is preparing for the UPR due in March of this year. I attended the preparation meetings with other NGOs. This experience gave me an insight into the state and levels of awareness regarding the UPR. Very few organizations understood how the UPR worked and the meetings started with a very basic introduction to the purpose of the UPR, the format and content. APIL played a key role in creating the UPR blog, systemizing the co-writing process and introducing the idea of using google form in order to structure the written submissions. The UPR blog is a recource pool and contains key information regarding the UPR and other UN mechanisms. APIL interns designed the blog, search functions, uploaded key documents and translated key documents from English to Korean where necessary.
This internship was an invaluable experience in the following ways:
It provided me with an insight into what it means to be a public interest advocate in Korea. There is little recognition among the established legal community of the need for public interest law attorneys, and those who desire to work in this field are strongly discouraged by the lack of support and the realities of having to deal with debt, provide financially for their families and fulfill familial and societal expectations e.g. attorneys earn comfortable incomes. There are fewer sources of funding available compared to in the US or UK. An additional source of pressure is the societal assumption and expectation that individuals working in the human rights field should adhere to a certain lifestyle: a life of sacrifice and scarcity. Income earned need to kept low in order to avoid criticism from sponsors and the public. As mentioned above, private companies are under the misconception that pro bono work can be satisfied through cash donations. Thus, there is very little incentive, support or encouragement for young lawyers to enter human rights/ public justice work, although this is slowly beginning to change.
In this sense, APIL and Attorney Kim is a great role model and encouragement to law students who are beginning to understand the value and need for public interest law and have a desire to use their qualifications for the public good.
First, this experience allowed me to apply the theoretical knowledge gained through the Immigration Law and International Human Rights classes and apply research skills gained at law school. It helped me to understand and gain a feel for how my knowledge can help real people with real problems. It has inspired me to study harder during my remaining year at law school.
Second, I was able to gain an insight into the day to day life of an NGO: character and atmosphere of NGO, funding: applying for grants, fundraising, presentation, the need for communication and collaboration with other NGOs to avoid overlapping/ interference/ increased efficiency when dealing with a case, the interdisciplinary nature of working in human rights,
Third, I gained an understanding into the issues specific to Korea and the way they affect migrants and asylum seekers: Network meetings allowed me to understand the types of issues currently being investigated and tackled: registration of births of children born to foreigners, inability to apply for asylum at airports, integration of migrants into Korean society, issue of accommodation for migrants once they have been released from detention centers, activities and human rights abuses perpetrated by Korean companies and the potential for future abuse, the need for an increased awareness of corporate social responsibility among the larger companies. I also gained an understanding of attitudes of Korean officers towards detainees and the real need for human rights education within the detention centers.
Fourth, through Attorney Kim’s easy going and open nature, myself and other interns were able to ask frank questions and gain practical advice regarding the realities of being a full time public interest attorney. Among the many topics discussed were: raising a young family in Korea on a relatively low income, enjoying the fine things in life in moderation, living an alternative lifestyle: nurturing and holding alternative views and sticking to alternative values (Christian values) in a field which is strongly conservative and dominated by strong societal stereotypes, and motivation for leading such a lifestyle. Attorney Kim is an encouragement to those who have a desire to serve the vulnerable through law but may be afraid to obey their calling, and is proof to many that life as a public interest attorney is a) not necessarily one of poverty and drudgery, but rewarding and fulfilling and b) difficult at times but entirely possible.